According to the author of Hebrews, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his (4:9-10), and we who have believed enter that rest (4:3).

To tackle this idea of God’s promised Sabbath rest we must ask and answer two questions. First, when is it? Second, what is it?

For centuries there has been a standard Protestant paradigm serving as a model for interpreting Sabbath rest in Hebrews. The traditional answer to the question of when is now. When we turn from our dead works and believe in Jesus’ atoning sacrifice, we are born again, born of his Spirit. At that moment, we inherit his promise of rest.

And that comes with the assurance of heaven, the answer to the what question. Ultimately—goes this way of reasoning—the promised Sabbath rest talked about here is heaven. It is where you go when you die.

I suggest that both of these answers fail to do justice to the context of Hebrews. Please don’t misunderstand me. I am not saying those glorious truths are wrong in themselves. Rather, we must consider what we have learned about the author’s worldview and the logic of his sermon (later turned into a letter) to see if the traditional line of reasoning is consistent with what we have discovered so far.

What is the Sabbath rest spoken of in Hebrews?

To understand what’s going on in Chapter 4, we must remember two very important points.

1. Hebrews is a sermon, displaying exquisite rhetorical skill, being preached to a localized people with whom the author is familiar. It is not written as a treatise. It is a message spoken by a passionate preacher who is concerned for his beloved people in this congregation, whoever and wherever they are.
2. Hebrews has an intentional and decidedly eschatological character. Eschaton in Greek is the last day. Eschatology is that which relates to the end times.

Let me expand on this important point. Jewish writers during the Second Temple period created what scholars now call apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic authors were convinced that the end of the age, the last day with its full eschatological disclosure was imminent. The author of Hebrews is a Jewish believer in Jesus who draws upon language typical of this uniquely Jewish genre. But with one radical twist.

For him who spoke and those who originally heard, the revolutionary idea was that as a result of Messiah’s life, death, resurrection, and Spirit outpouring, the last days, in fact, had begun! The eschatological age, though yet to be consummated, was inaugurated. The end had entered into the present.

With this in mind, listen again to his introduction. Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son (1:1-2).

This is the perspective of the author and the earliest church: He has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself (9:26). Indeed, in Jesus, we have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come (6:5).

Paul uses the same language in a text particularly relevant to our study of Hebrews 4: Now these things happened to them [Israel] as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (1 Cor 10:11).

The author believes his audience is living in the last days (eschaton).

As a result, he is convinced the return of Jesus (parousia, in Greek) is imminent. And when the Son of Man returns, it will be the consummation of what he began. It will be the final revealing (apocalypse). We could say it this way: salvation is a present reality awaiting a final realization. It is both now, and more to come.

On the one hand, in Messiah, we currently enjoy and experience, in an anticipatory way, eschatological blessings and promises—namely, the presence and resurrection power of the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, there is, for the author of Hebrews, still an eschatological future waiting to be fulfilled. He does not believe everything having to do with end times has already been realized.

What Jesus began at his first coming will be fully realized in his second coming. Salvation is a matter of both receiving (now) and waiting (more to come). Paul says it this way: not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies (Rom 8:23).

This is a very Hebraic way of thinking.

It is this eschatological orientation that lies behind the author’s use of Sabbath rest and the way in which he gives them assurances and exhortations. Why does he so passionately and urgently warn his listeners? Because he believes the final consummation is imminent. At that time, the dead in Messiah will be raised and we shall all enter the fullness of God’s Sabbath rest.

Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience (4:11). He pleads with them to walk upright in the reality of God’s Sabbath rest and to hold firm and stand steady until the Son of Man appears. It is the imminence of the eschaton that propels the urgency of his exhortation.

Here is something I want to impress upon you. The author of Hebrews has a very specific paradigm of salvation in mind. This word paradigm simply means a model or a pattern upon which all the facts fit into their proper place. Although it is plain enough, the paradigm we bring to the text keeps us from seeing it clearly. He is convinced that the church to which he is speaking—as well as the church today—is in an analogous position to Israel in the wilderness.

Hebrews is a paradigm of pilgrimage.

Both Israel in the wilderness and the church face enemies and constant exposure to trials and temptations. Both need to confront the dangers of faithlessness, disobedience, and even apostasy. Both are called to persevere in fidelity to their Savior. Both are searched and judged by the Word of their God and though they have received the blessing of his presence, neither Israel in the wilderness nor the Church in the wilderness has yet entered the fullness of his promised rest.

Grasping this paradigm can help us interpret and benefit from the rest of the book in a way that I think shows fidelity to the author’s worldview. It can also have a transformational effect on how you view your own life, faith, and high calling in Messiah Jesus. I believe that is very much in keeping with the author’s intent.